Dan is an honest man trying to run a successful and honest business. Using loop holes in the system is dishonest and could get him in a lot of trouble. While we don't like paying these taxes (me included) they are there for a reason.

I don't understand people who moan about paying taxes. It goes to the Government who in turn use it to pay for many of the free or subsidised services that we are VERY lucky to have in the UK. You would be quick to moan if we had a poor, struggling Government, which many countries in this world have.

Are you kidding? This is probably one of the most ill informed posts I've ever seen on a forum.

Yeah I got fucked by a Â£20 charge when I ordered the starter kit, really sucks.

Dan is an honest man trying to run a successful and honest business. Using loop holes in the system is dishonest and could get him in a lot of trouble. While we don't like paying these taxes (me included) they are there for a reason.

I don't understand people who moan about paying taxes. It goes to the Government who in turn use it to pay for many of the free or subsidised services that we are VERY lucky to have in the UK. You would be quick to moan if we had a poor, struggling Government, which many countries in this world have.

I started this post up last year and see that people are still commenting on it.

Firstly Christof I don't think anyone here is doubting Dan's honesty. You're completely right he can get into trouble, it's very risky.

Secondly I respect your opinion but I disagree with your latter paragraph somewhat. I am a tax payer and also contribute my monthly National Insurance. I dont feel I should be paying Â£11.30 for an item valued at Â£21 (16oz acne.org BP). If I am to pay custom taxes it should be a percentage of the value of the item. Something reasonable like 15-20% at most. At this rate I am paying over 50% of the value of the item as custom charges. This is robbery in my opinion.

Thirdly I agree the government does many good things with our money but I also believe it does equally many inappropriate things, such as spending Â£20 billion+ on the Olympic Games and then proposing to demolish one the sites in East London when the games are finished (this is just an example for the purpose of the argument).

I think the only way to reduce this cost vastly would be (as someone already mentioned) to have a UK distributor who could sell the items. Personally I feel Dan doesn't have any plans of expanding his product range outside of the USA any time soon, maybe he wants to focus on the domestic market for the time being, or he doesnt see much potential in the UK or indeed Europe. Who knows??

Just ordered Dan's starter pack and it arrived a few days ago. What I hadn't anticipated was the UK customs bill that accompanied it. The items cost $34.02, that's about Â£22.51. The UK customs charge was Â£12.14.

Eekkkkk! I noted from the label on the box, when I finally wrested it from my local sorting office operative and got it home, that had the contents been under Â£18 (for VAT purposes) in value, I would have avoided the charge.

The exact wording is: 'Goods purchased and imported into the EU with a value over Â£18 (for VAT purposes) and over Â£135 (for import duty purposes), or goods imported from one private person to another private person as a gift with a value of over Â£40, are subject to Customs charges.'

I'm just glad to get the stuff to be honest, but with more careful ordering I could have dodged the charge. One tube of Dan's BP costs $16.52, that's about Â£10.93, which would presumably have no charge on it. However the big bottle costs $32.03, that's Â£21.19, so that would attract the charge.

Moral of story, only order one tube of BP at a time, and make it the standard sized one. I think there are plenty of alternative options for cleanser and moisturizer available here within the UK. Hope this helps someone avoid the expensive error I just made.

Just ordered Dan's starter pack and it arrived a few days ago. What I hadn't anticipated was the UK customs bill that accompanied it. The items cost $34.02, that's about Â£22.51. The UK customs charge was Â£12.14.

Eekkkkk! I noted from the label on the box, when I finally wrested it from my local sorting office operative and got it home, that had the contents been under Â£18 (for VAT purposes) in value, I would have avoided the charge.

The exact wording is: 'Goods purchased and imported into the EU with a value over Â£18 (for VAT purposes) and over Â£135 (for import duty purposes), or goods imported from one private person to another private person as a gift with a value of over Â£40, are subject to Customs charges.'

I'm just glad to get the stuff to be honest, but with more careful ordering I could have dodged the charge. One tube of Dan's BP costs $16.52, that's about Â£10.93, which would presumably have no charge on it. However the big bottle costs $32.03, that's Â£21.19, so that would attract the charge.

Moral of story, only order one tube of BP at a time, and make it the standard sized one. I think there are plenty of alternative options for cleanser and moisturizer available here within the UK. Hope this helps someone avoid the expensive error I just made.

It is mad isnt it! I couldnt believe it when the postman gave me the slip to go pick it up! Its mad coz I ordered Acnescript from america and spent bout Â£30 and it got here in about 13 days and just got put through the letter box!! random isnt it! Dans stuff takes forever to arrive....still waiting for my AHA!!

Yes i only ever now order the 8oz treatment now. It works out very expensive ordering the bp but is worth it. Only wish us in the uk could order the pumps with the custom charge as they are soo much easier to use!!

I got hit by it too, I oredered the stater kit and my custom charge was Â£18, Your right though about the cleanser and moitrizer, I hope we can find something here for us in the UK, because the postage and customs hit really hard! there so mean.

Cetaphil's now avaible in lloyds pharmcy think I might try that soon as my acne.org cleansers super low and I can't afford all the extra charges right now :'(

claireWork like you don't need the money. Love like you've never been hurt. Dance like nobody's watching.

Alot of companies i have ordered fromin the states have either not put the priceon the box or lied about it so we dont get caught by thecustoms charges, a bit cheeky i suppose but im not going to complain! I just wish Dan realised if changed the system alot more people would be ordering from him.

Yeah. I think companies have to be careful though, that they stay on the right side of the law.

It is annoying. The level at which the charge kicks in should be increased more often. I think it has been Â£18 for donkeys ages. Just another money making ploy on behalf of the government, like when house prices started to rocket, and they didn't increase the level at which people paid inheritance tax.

My sister was suggesting that she make a separate order for me, and that way I could order 2 things at once. Might be worth considering?

I ship all the time ( in my job) and we dont put the full price of our software on the shipping documents. We put a nominal replacement value of $5.00. That way the client does NOT have to pay any import tax ! Maybe Dan could do this with his shipments to the UK.. ? then we wouldn't have to pay the tax. I might even order some then

Marking products that aren't gifts as gifts or marking them with a lower shipping value than they actually have in order to get around customers is not only dishonest, but it's against the law. DanielKern.com could get into serious trouble for doing so. Not only that, but they could be restricted from shipping their products internationally as a result.

and i totally would have a crush on you if I had any lesbian tendencies

Christof - I tried ordering 2 lots of products at once and OUCH!!! I got landed with a £50 bill for import tax. It's the first order I've ever put in and I can't believe it! So, a word of advice - DON'T DO IT!!!

Unfortunately, Dan himself might end up subject to a fine if he were to mark mnerchandise as a gift. I'm sure the customs people would not be happy if he were assisting tax evasion. Probably best to try to get your own regimen supplies from here in the UK.

Does anyone have any idea how much I can expect to pay in customs charges when ordering the full 16oz kit? In the past I've ordered the treatment separately, but I'm wondering if it'll be cheaper, even allowing for customs, to just order the big kit in one go.

No way round this really until Dan gets a UK/EU distributor. The only other real option is to order the 8oz tube which still works out ok price wise compared to the usual 40g tubes available on the high street.

Thanks T.M. I actually went ahead and ordered the full kit (though the standard size, not the 16oz.) and it arrived today without any customs charge, which was nice!

It does seem to be entirely down to luck though, as far as I can tell. I ordered a couple of LPs only the other week from the States on which I paid a customs charge, and they were about the same value as the regimen ($30 or so).